Video, color, stereo sound, (0.03.08)

“I think that even in the depths of our inside and our inner feelings, we can’t really know ourselves. It is impossible to understand what is going on inside someone only by its appearance.”
— Parya Vatankhah

This video performance explores the ambiguity of emotional expression and the tension between inner reality and outward appearance. Through a series of intimate, visually charged sequences, the artist examines how the human face can both reveal and conceal. The smiling face, often interpreted as a sign of happiness or contentment, may in fact mask a deeper turmoil — a reality inaccessible to the viewer.

A woman appears on screen, offering a broad smile that suggests serenity or joy. As the video unfolds, her expression shifts: the smile fades, a silent anguish emerges, and her robe becomes stained with blood — a stark visual rupture that confronts the viewer with the fragility and duality of appearance. What was first seen as peaceful becomes unsettling, even violent.

The final image — the woman now veiled — subtly evokes the artist’s own experience as an Iranian woman. The scarf becomes a symbol not only of cultural identity, but also of the constraints, contradictions, and internal conflicts imposed by social and political realities. In this layered performance, Vatankhah reflects on the complex emotions born of constrained freedoms, inviting the viewer to question the surface of things and consider what lies beneath.